Study Notes: Biotechnology

Biotechnology was once called Applied Microbiology before the molecular
biology revolution that started in the 1970s, and has a history stretching
back many thousands of years.

The early biotechnologists were mainly involved in bread, wine and beer
production and the first biotechnologists to publish their work were ancient
Egyptians who recorded their biotechnological processes on stone tablets!

This kind of ancient biotechnology is still carried out today and some
of the products of this biotechnology include:

Beer and Wine

Vegemite

Bread

Vinegar

Cheese

Yoghurt

Notice that all of these products are food or food-related and that the
process of fermentation plays a major role in the development of some
of these products such as beer, wine and vinegar.

A range of bulk and fine chemicals can also be produced by fermentation.
All that is required is a suitable organism (usually a bacterium or fungus)
that can carry out the particular biochemical steps required and suitable
substrates (food) for the organism to use.

Products produced by fermentation include:

Alcohols

Nucleotides

Alkaloids

Organic acids

Amino acids

Pharmaceuticals other than antibiotics

Antibiotics

Polysaccharides

Biofuels such as hydrogen, methane and ethanol

Steroids

Enzymes

Vaccines

Human hormones such as insulin, growth hormone, interferons

For example the bacterium Clostridium sp. will produce organic
solvents such as butanol and acetone from relatively simple mixtures of
sugars and growth factors. The butanol or acetone produced is a by-product
of the metabolism of the organism. The ability to produce these products
can be increased by breeding and selection, and by recombinant DNA techniques.

For instance the production of the antibiotic penicillin from the fungus
Penicillium chrysogenum has been increased at least 10,000 fold
since Fleming first noticed that Penicillium sp. produced this
antibiotic.

Initially biotechnology was called Industrial Microbiology
but with the advent of DNA technology the name was changed to Biotechnology
to reflect better the range of activities now undertaken. Biotechnology
is of course an applied science as the rationale for biotechnology is
to produce products that are better and cheaper.

Modern techniques of Biotechnology (recombinant DNA technology) involve
the use and manipulation of DNA and include the following processes/products.

DNA sequencing

PCR to amplify specific regions of DNA

Parentage Testing

Sex determination in ‘difficult’ animals such as reptiles
and birds

Restriction enzyme analysis to determine relationships amongst and
between species

Gene technology including cloning of genes

Improvement of current bacterial and fungal organisms to increase
production in industrial settings such as fermentation

Cloning of genes between species to enhance a characteristic of a
species (eg genetically modified organisms such as herbicide-resistant
canola)

The production of life/new life forms via these techniques, for example
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), is still very controversial and
causes much debate and dissent in the community. However it should be
remembered that much of biotechnology is not related to the production
of GMOs but to the production of improved products.